Most NBA Power Rankings have the LA Lakers ahead of the Denver Nuggets so I will use the Lakers as my example of teams the Nuggets could outperform.
I get it LeBron James is there. A quick look at the season’s first ten games has me shaking my head and wondering what the rankings will say if I’m right about the standings through ten games about the Denver Nuggets.
I look at the Nuggets first 10 opponents and I see a minimum 6 wins and a highly possible 7 (hoping for 10). When I look at the Lakers I see them having to overachieve to get to 5. Maybe I’m wrong and LeBron James instantly transforms this team to a contender, but many of these matchups to me favor their opponent and last year LeBron’s Cavs’ started 4-10.
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They eventually went to the NBA finals and that can’t be overstated, but this is the West. The Nuggets however started 5-5 with losses to the Wizards, Knicks, and Hornets that frankly shouldn’t have happened.
With another year under their belt the Nuggets shouldn’t give games away as they did last year so I don’t think 7-3 is an unreasonable prediction to start the season.
It will take more then a couple weeks of basketball to convince the critics that Denver is a competitor and teams like the Lakers have work to do, but a two or three game lead over the Lakers in 10 games should be a start.
If the injuries or “gelling” problems pop up for OKC then I see two Western teams in the top ten that the Nuggets are perhaps better then. The Eastern Conference teams in the top 10 are legit, but the Nuggets were 18-12 against the East last season.
So the argument could be made that the Eastern teams just don’t stack up against the Western contenders.
Time will tell and the Nuggets have to beat each opponent on each night, but I think they’re underestimated at 10th in ESPN’s Latest Power Rankings. We’ll see starting with the Clippers.